Category Archives: Personality Profiling Tools

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”Aristotle

As an accredited Type trainer (Step I & II) I facilitate interactive and engaging workshops on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) or using the more modern version of the tool, The Majors.

Type is a highly regarded tool that is used to gain insights into personal preferences and increase self awarness (EQ). It explores individual preferences around the four functions:

Extraversion – Introversion

Sensing – iNtuition

Thinking – Feeling

Judging – Perceiving

The Type tools go deeper than perhaps some have experienced in prior training where a simple explanation of Type was given, before being presented with a four letter Type report i.e ESTJ. When rich training and discussion (both group and one on one) is provided Type helps individuals and teams explore their personal preferences around the four functions. It also looks at different Interaction Styles, the Four Temperament Groups, leadership styles, causes for stress and how to reduce this and much more. Step II training of Type is valuable for those who have done basic Type training before and have a reasonable level of self awareness, however, are looking to develop this to the next level.

Based on the original work of Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung, Type It has stood the test of time and is utilised across the world for a variety of purposes including career development, team building, leadership development and stress management.

To learn more about Type training for teams and or individuals, contact me or visit my Type page.

I love reading, and in particular I enjoy reading books related to how we live and work. This year I managed to get through a sizeable stack of books (I even managed to write my own, The Busy Women’s Guide to… Salary Negotiation). Below I have a brief overview of those that I found to be most relevant for people looking to make career and/or lifestyle changes. I find that the two generally coincide.

Enjoyable Books That Made an Impact in 2015

Mean Girls by Meredith Fuller, is a great book that helps understand the dynamics of working with female colleagues – namely those who maybe causing you some grief. The good news is that you are not alone. At various stages in our careers we all encounter ‘mean girls’. It is nothing you are doing wrong – generally it is all about them! This great book offers some good strategies to deal with the various types of ‘mean girls’ that inhabit our workplaces.

Sell Your Thoughts by Matt Church, is a book which title goes on to state ‘How to earn a million dollars a year as a Thought Leader’. The book is a part of a program that the author offers. Whether or not you are interested in doing the program and/or becoming a thought leader, what the book does is offer a great formula for guiding you through how to capture your personal brand. It offers the reader some thought provoking career related questions around who are, what you want to be known for, how you want to make your mark and so on. If you are considering self-employment or looking to remain an employee the book is a valuable resource.

Life in Half a Second by Matthew Michalewicz is an inspiring book, based on his life experiences. Matthew is a migrant who is a self-made successful business person and the book is his formula for experiencing success in your life be it business, career and/or personal. The book is confronting in a great way, forcing the reader to reflect on how they want to live their lives. Given we all have only a finite time on this planet, what do we really want to be doing with this precious commodity called time!

How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krnaric is a book I picked up in December from The School of Life in Melbourne. As a career strategist the title caught my eye! The book is an easy read that is peppered with career related exercises which is where the fun and challenging part kicks in. To get the value from the book you have to do the homework! While I agree with most of what is written I feel that the author is too dismissive of any personality profiling – namely Myers Briggs (MBTI). From his description I suspect his knowledge of how the tool is actually used is limited. Any profiling tool offers a different perspective on who we are. They are not there to typecast or pigeonhole us which the author seems to suggest. We are more than our MBTI type! He also seems to have an outdated view of careers coaches which was disappointing. In reading his book, I would suggest that what he is proposing when it comes to finding fulfilling work is what most contemporary career coaches advocate. For those contemplating a career change, it is a nice little book to get you started.

What I Am Looking Forward to Reading in 2016

My brothers kindly gave me the following book selection below (at my request) for Christmas. So this wonderful pile of books are sitting patiently on my bedside table waiting to be read. Each book sounded intriguing based on the reviews by the various people who made the recommendations. These were people who were ‘Thought Leaders’ in everything from career coaching, through to leadership development and general business.

A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger

The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan & Barbara Pease

The Workplace Within by Larry Hirschhorn

Ego & Soul by John Carroll

To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink

If you have read any of the books from either list please feel free to share your thoughts. Also further book recommendations are always welcomed.

I am always fascinated by the topic of neuroscience and was intrigued to learn more from a HR and employee perspective. While having minimal knowledge of the SCARF model developed by Dr David Rock (which is the basis of the article), I had not thought enough about how relevant it is to our careers. The SCARF model offers us personal insights around our drivers to assist us in improving our ability to collaborate with and influence others in the workplace.

The SCARF model involves five domains of human social experience: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness.
• Status is about relative importance to others.• Certainty concerns being able to predict the future.• Autonomy provides a sense of control over events.• Relatedness is a sense of safety with others – of friend rather than foe.• Fairness is a perception of fair exchanges between people.

In the HC Online article each of these areas is detailed in full. For example: Autonomyis defined as providing ‘a sense of control over events’. Allowing personal goal formulation, choice of engagement methods, and empowerment to collaborate beyond a person’s formal/primary role may support autonomy. Additionally, the effectiveness of reporting and the ability to explore career interests and options outside the current role can greatly impact the feeling of autonomy.

As cited in my last post ‘Trends in the Careers Landscape’” most people want a degree of autonomy, mastery and purpose in their work, yet many organisations are still working on ‘chain & command’ models from the industrial age.” Using the SCARF model can assist individuals in understanding the degree of autonomy that is important to them in a role and work environment.

While you no doubt have some level of personal insight around each of the these five domains, there is never any harm in clarifying what each of these look likes and reflecting how these impact on our ability to work successfully in teams and our career in general.

Note: the assessment is a fairly short questionnaire that provides a percentage weighting for how strongly you feel in relation to each of the five domains. Certainly worth the few minutes it takes to complete.

Many people like the idea of personality assessments, which is understandable. They can offer us new insights and provide us with another perspective on how we see ourselves and maybe how others see us. Which is why when I came across this free Myers Briggs Typology (MBTI), I thought it worth posting. I have completed the assessment and found it to be true of my type.

It is important to note that this is simply an introduction. To receive the full benefit of the MBTI I would recommend you complete this with a professional who is MBTI or Majors Type Inventory accredited who can provide you with a full debrief.